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Beer Guy: New brewery in Greer area

Staff Writer
Published 12:03 a.m. ET April 15, 2015

The Birds Fly South brewery in the Greer area will do European-style saison farmhouse ales. Look for them at the Community Tap beer Festival April 25.(Photo: Birds Fly South)

The Upstate brew scene is getting another new player with the summertime arrival of the Birds Fly South brewery.

This brewery will be something altogether different, with a focus on open fermentation and European style saison farmhouse ales. To start, brewery founder Shawn Johnson will contract brew through Greenville's Thomas Creek Brewery.

But Johnson is looking for space in Greer or northeast of Greenville. "We need that perfect space, old wood, bricks that goes hand in hand with what we will be doing" with beer. Birds Fly South will also have a second presence in Tarpon Springs, Florida, through the Saint Somewhere Brewing Company, which Johnson described as his "beer daddy."

The idea is to brew the same beers in both the Upstate and Florida, using the same ingredients and processes. They will undoubtedly be a little different, given the climate and humidity in both locations, he said.

Johnson has already been home brewing, and he will have his beers at the Community Tap Beer Festival April 25 during Greenville Craft Beer Week. Meanwhile, he's waiting on his federal brewing permit, and the first beers might be coming out of Thomas Creek in June, he said.

By next year, he hopes to have 750 ml bottles on the market.

Johnson has been balancing brewing with his day job as an engineer in the U.S. Coast Guard, working on aircraft. But he'll soon be retiring from that gig and putting all his energy into beer. We can't wait to try some of his brews.

Birds Fly South is the latest in a wave of new Upstate breweries coming this year including Carolina Bauernhaus Ales in Anderson, Upstate Craft Beer and 13 Stripes in Greenville and Cyclops in Spartanburg.

Hop to it:

Sweetwater Brewing out of Atlanta has a big hoppy brew for spring: 420 Fest Double IPA, a limited edition brew in their Dank Tank series. It was made with two experimental hops: Lemondrop and Eureka from the Hopsteiner breeding program in Yakima, Washington. The beer clocks in at 8 percent alcohol. Look for it in 22 ounce bottles and draft around Sweetwater's distribution area which includes Western North Carolina.